


Wake

by blakefancier



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-04 23:13:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1086802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blakefancier/pseuds/blakefancier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick Fury and Peggy Carter remember a friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wake

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little ficlet I wrote for December 17th-- the anniversary of Howard and Maria Stark's death.

Nick showed up at Peggy's hotel room an hour before the funeral. She was wearing a black dress, her lips painted a blood red. She smiled at him, brittle and small, and ushered him into the room. He sat on the lone chair in the room, hands clasped in lap, as she took out two small bottles of tequila from the minibar. She handed him one, then sat down on the bed.

"Are you all right?" he asked. 

Peggy stared down at the bottle her hands and he thought maybe she wouldn’t answer, then she said, "I didn't expect to be the last one." 

"Does anyone?"

"I suppose not." She let out a sigh and brushed a non-existent piece of lint from her dress. "We parted on bad terms."

"I don't think Howard knew how to part any differently." Nick smiled at her and she smiled back. 

"We disappointed each other in the way only old friends can. He thought I was giving up and I thought he was obsessed." Peggy shook her head. "I shouldn't have been surprised. He never knew how to do anything halfway. Not even this."

"His son will be there," Nick said. 

"Leave the boy alone." Her voice was sharp and Nick straightened at her tone. "Allow him his ignorance. There's safety in it." 

He nodded once. "I can still remember the first thing he said to me. 'Hello, Fury, how would you like to change the world?'" 

She chuckled softly. "Better than his first words to me. He looked me over, slowly, and said, 'Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes.' I told him that he'd better keep his sore eyes, and the rest of him, away from me, if he wanted to keep them in working order. He just laughed. He was such an infuriating jackass."

"Yeah." He smiled fondly at that, then opened his little bottle of tequila. "To Howard Stark, American hero and grade-A jackass." 

Peggy opened her bottle and held it up. "And to Maria Stark; for being strong enough to love him. God knows I could never manage it."

"Amen," he said, and they both drank from their bottles. 

"I'm going to miss him." She set the empty bottle on the bed and her lips trembled slightly. He thought she might cry, but then she took a deep breath and seemed to settle. 

"Yeah." Nick licked his lips. "Me, too."

Peggy cleared her throat and rose to her feet. "We should go. No doubt there will be a crowd." 

He nodded and offered her his arm. She hesitated for a moment, then took it, smiling up at him, brittle and small.


End file.
